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Chapter 5

Posted on Friday, 11 August 2006

"Lydia?" Elizabeth was puzzled. "How would Lydia know?" Days later it dawned on her to make good on the agreement with her mother and find out where she had gained her intelligence.

"She's been seeing a boy from the crew, Denny? I think? He's a PA, like you."

She vaguely remembered the young, shaggy, blonde. "Oh, well, that makes a lot more sense." She made a mental note to kill her little sister the next time she saw her.

"I'm just sorry you have to spend so much time with that Darcy fellow. No one in town can stand him. So arrogant. I've lived in Los Angeles, and let me tell you, Longbourn is a much better place to call home. We may not have all the luxuries, but we make up for it in friendliness and common decency." She sniffed, "Our Bingley is doing the best he can, but that man will turn it into a stinker. I've checked him out. His box office history is simply atrocious."

"I have good news about Darcy, actually. I got word earlier yesterday that I will be out as of Wednesday." Two more days until she would be break free from the wretched chains of the tyranny of assholes. She had not felt such happiness in a long time. It was like surviving a horrible accident, no matter what the injuries, one was grateful to walk away from it intact.

"And what of your Wickham?"

That was a good question. He hadn't broached the subject of what would happen to them once she was off the set. They'd only been seeing each other for a few weeks. She didn't think that she was in a position to presume anything. "I don't know, Mom."

"Are you sleeping with him?"

"I've told you once, I've told you twelve times. I don't want to talk about things like that with my mother."

"I'm not just your mother, Lizzy. We're friends. Friends talk to each other about things."

"We're not having this conversation."

"Just tell me, Lizzy. I wouldn't ask if I wasn't going somewhere with it."

"God, Mom. Uh ... no. Okay? No." She was, for once, grateful that they hadn't, as it spared her an uncomfortable discussion with her mother.

"Well, don't! Not until he's at least paid for you to come and visit him in LA!."

Scratch that. This indeed appeared to be the direct route to Uncomfortablesville.

"It's like Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. She made him wait for months, and what did he do?" Frannie continued. "He married her!"

"And left her for another woman."

"No matter. Jennifer got some good years out of him and more press than she could ever ask for."

"I'm not looking for press."

"Of course not. But, Lizzy, sometimes a woman has to be aware of the kinds of power she can have over a man..."

Elizabeth cringed but didn't reply.

"You're not as pretty as Jane, but you've got a nice figure. A lot of men prefer a girl built like you over a pretty face. If you would turn it on a bit, and quit being afraid to be sexy, you could have just as many men chasing after you as Jane does. Listen to me with Wickham. Men, they're hunters by nature, you know. As a woman, you have a responsibility to give him a good chase. The longer you make him wait, the more he'll want it. Like I did with your father."

"Okay. This is done. I can't talk to you about this stuff. I'll talk to you later. I love you, bye." She hung up before Frannie could protest.

"Wednesday, huh?" Wickham slung a lighting rig over his shoulder. "So soon? You were the only thing making this tolerable."

She fought an urge to actually swoon. She was both delighted with and disgusted by herself. "As happy as I am that I met you, I absolutely cannot wait. I've let some of my father's business go for too long." She tried not to dwell on the fact that it had taken just under a month to actually accrue enough work to get behind. So it wasn't the hardest job in the world. That didn't necessarily mean she was a directionless failure. Right?

"I think we both know that I'm not going to have a lot by way of time while I'm here, and we won't get to see each other nearly as much with you gone, but..." He smiled warmly at her, "I'd like to spend whatever free time I do have with you."

Elizabeth accepted this with elation. It had been exactly what she'd been hoping to hear. "I would really like that, too."

"I know we haven't known each other for that long, Elizabeth, but I think that what we've got going is really special."

"Me, too." She could have replaced all the lighting rigs with the beam on her face.

Throwing caution to the wind, they proceeded to indulge in a session of billing and cooing, occasionally interrupted by the wet smacking of lips. This was ignored by most, as they were off in a relatively secluded corner. Those that did bear witness were generally put off and shared a mutual wish that the young lovers would get a room.

Their wish was granted later that evening when Wickham spent the night.

She snuggled closer to him and thought, That Frannie has no clue what she is talking about.

Darcy's plan was going swimmingly. He'd managed to survive the mid afternoon trips to the sub unit, thanks to joy of headphones. Those excursions were over and done soon enough. The rest of the time he had Caroline, Louisa, and Lawrence as buffer. There was Sharon, as well, but it hardly seemed like she was on the set at all. She did her scenes with him, which were considerable, and then took off for her trailer. She was famous enough to be sequestered from even her co-stars, if she wanted. And apparently she did.

No, so long as all the interaction that occurred between Elizabeth and himself were a few hellos and goodbyes, he'd be in good shape. That didn't mean he couldn't look, he justified as he snuck his fifteenth second-long glance at her of the evening. After all, it was probably the last time he'd see her. At least until the shoot was over, if he decided to stick around for the wrap party, which at the current time, was leaning heavily towards no. He felt both relief and panic and did his best to bury both.

She seemed to be ignoring him just as pointedly as he was her. He wondered if he'd hurt her feelings. His skin began to prickle with encouragement. Before he could think he piped up from the back of the van, "This is your last night with us, correct, Elizabeth?"

She kept staring straight ahead and gave a dull affirmation.

"I'd like to say thank you for the hard work. It was very nice to work with you. Terry is a good guy, but I really enjoyed your time here."

Was he mocking her? She took a deep breath and reminded herself that there were only a couple of more miles to go and she had made it this far.

"Yes, Eliza. It was delightful to work with you." Caroline made a show of examining her nails as she said it. "I was wondering if you could do me one more favor, as a friend?" She smiled widely.

"Anything for you, Miss Bingley." Elizabeth snotted back.

"Tell your sister, Jane, that I would very much like to get together with her on Saturday."

"Do you not have her phone number? I can give it to you, if you'd like."

"No bother. From what I understood, the two of you are very close, so I thought that you could pass along the message when you talk to her next." Caroline wanted nothing more than to display a blatant preference for her sister, in the hopes of causing Elizabeth injury.

"I hardly think its fair of me to announce that I've made plans for her. If you'd like to see her, give her a call."

"Whatever." Caroline smirked, thinking Elizabeth's irritation arose out of something more than active dislike. "Speaking of sisters, how is your sister doing, Darcy?"

"Very well, thank you."

"The last time I saw her, she had gotten so tall. Tell me, is she as tall as me, now? It's been a couple of years since I've seen her last." The redhead stood at five feet ten inches.

"She's about the same height as Elizabeth." He demurred, using the opportunity to get another look at her.

"She was definitely much taller than her when I saw her that Christmas at Pemberley."

"I think I know how tall my sister is, Caroline."

"Of course." She deferred, and proceeded to give Elizabeth some of the most withering stink eye she had ever been subjected to.

After a short period of time that had felt long to all parties involved, Elizabeth pulled the van into the circular drive.

"Nice to meet you all. Best of luck." She scampered out the door and hurried towards her car in the crew lot.

"Elizabeth!" He just wanted to say goodbye. Nothing wrong with that. It didn't explain away the gnawing that had settled in his stomach once Netherfield had appeared, but it would do for now.

She knew it was Darcy but couldn't see him clearly. She could only sense his approach from the gravel crunching underneath his feet. "Yes?"

He hadn't thought it through, really. He'd gotten out the Elizabeth part, but was clueless as to what to do next. She seemed neither happy, nor angry. Not excited, not exasperated What did she want? "It was nice to work with you."

She arched an eyebrow, "You said that already, but thank you."

"Oh." He stood dumbly for a beat, struggling.

Caroline noticed the sequestered couple and made her way over, digging loudly into the gravel to announce her impending approach. "Elizabeth Bennet!" She smiled warmly and linked her arm with the dark haired woman's.

"Yes?" She extracted her arm and returned the smile.

"Apparently, everyone's having a pool party tonight. Would you like to join us?"

She wasn't sure what had magically made Caroline so nice, but she would like to get to say proper goodbyes to Tony and couple of others.

"I heard that they even got Sharon to come."

"Sharon Jones?" Elizabeth had seen her a couple of times, but never spoken to her. She had hermited herself away in her trailer when she wasn't doing a scene. Her mother had managed to forget that she was even a part of the production.

"Yes." She looked at Darcy, "Say you'll come, Eliza. It will be like a going away party."

"Okay." She had her swimsuit in her gym bag in the trunk of her car. She took it as a sign.

Caroline turned her attention again to Darcy, "And what about you?"

"Sure."

"Fantastic." She led Darcy towards the house, not waiting for Elizabeth.

"Glad to see you here, Lizzy." Tony came over, handing her a beer. "I'm gonna miss you, kid."

"We'll all have to get together before wrap."

"Oh yeah, for sure." He nodded towards the pool. "You gettin' in?"

"Yeah, in a second." She took a couple big gulps from her beer.

The pool was gorgeous, just like the rest of the estate. It easily accommodated the twenty or so gathered round. "This house is just too much."

Tony laughed, "You should see some of the houses in LA."

"I can't even imagine." She took another drink.

She felt Caroline nearing her before she saw her.

"Eliza! Come and swim with me?"

Darcy followed not too far behind.

Elizabeth was curious to see what had caused the change in Caroline and agreed.

The redhead beamed and slowly lowered herself into the water. Elizabeth followed, intending on making idle chat for a couple of minutes before making her excuses.

"What about you, Darcy? Won't you come into the water?" Caroline splashed water on her shoulders.

"No." He took a seat on the wooden chaise lounge nearest their spot in the water.

"Why not?" Caroline was not pleased. The whole point of this exercise was to make Darcy compare her against Elizabeth so that he could finally see what was so plain to her. Elizabeth Bennet was nothing special.

He smirked, but it did not leave the very corners of his mouth. "You made such a show of getting Elizabeth alone, I can only be lead to one of two conclusions. Both of which make me being at all involved utterly useless."

"And what might that be, may I ask?" She asked flirtatiously.

"One is that you two are sharing secrets, and my presence would only hold you up." The smirk deepened.

"And what is the other?"

"That you want me to see you in your bikinis, and if that is the case, the view is much better from over here."

"Oh, my!" Caroline raised her hand to her chest and fluttered, "Eliza! What do we say back to such an accusation?"

"The best thing to do is nothing at all. He wouldn't have said anything at all if he didn't mean to be severe on us."

"I am incapable of holding anything back from Darcy."

"That's too bad." She pondered for a moment, "Then we have no choice but to tease him, to laugh at him. You've known him for a long time, you must know his soft spot."

Caroline laughed, "Oh, you don't know Darcy at all, do you? You can't laugh at him. He's the finest man I know, practically flawless."

"That's an even bigger shame, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have my friends to laugh at." Elizabeth dunked her head under water. "Although, I suppose it could be said that being without flaw is a flaw within itself."

"Caroline gives me too much credit. I am definitely flawed, although it must be said that if you an individual can make fun of anyone if they try hard enough, even the best of men." Darcy piped up, blushing a bit from her heaping praise.

"I agree wholeheartedly." She looked up at him, "I try to never laugh at things that are good, or noble, but I do admit that nonsense, whims and inconsistencies...folly...it does amuse me. But I guess those are things that you are without."

"In my profession, you are always vulnerable to ridicule. I make it a point to avoid those characteristics which open one to it. "

"Something like arrogance or vanity?"

"Yes, I would consider vanity under that category. But arrogance? When there is a true superiority of mind ... there is nothing wrong with a little arrogance."

"I see."

"So, what do you say, Eliza? Have you figured out how to go about it?"

"No. I think you're right, Caroline. Darcy is without flaw. Even according to himself."

"That's not what I said!" He cried, more animated than she had ever seen him. "I have faults, but I hope that none of them are because I'm stupid." He leaned over elbows on thighs and smiled at Elizabeth, "Some people might say that I have a tendency to be unforgiving. I don't have very much tolerance for what I would consider weaknesses. Vices, foibles, whatever you'd like to call them. You might call me resentful, when personally injured. I hold grudges. Once I decide I don't like you, I don't like you forever."

"Those are definitely faults, but you've done well. They aren't ones I can laugh at."

"I think every person is born with one major flaw, one that they have to work their whole lives to overcome."

"And yours is a predisposition to hate everyone." She looked up at him once more and he returned her stare and did not look away.

He smiled, but just with his eyes, "And yours is to willfully misunderstand them."

Caroline crawled out of the pool, tired of being ignored. She called Darcy over and he gratefully followed. He did not notice when Elizabeth had left or if she had lingered at the party later than him. He was not sad to see her go. If he had to continue seeing her every day he was pretty sure that he might fall in love with her.

Chapter 6

Posted on Wednesday, 30 August 2006

"Who is the darkheaded girl?" Sharon Vorber asked her assistant, Michelle.

"Which one?"

"The one in the pool?" Sharon sighed loudly.

"There's more than one, Ms. Vorber."

"The only one that is at all interesting looking, Michelle. Who else would it be?"

"Ms. Vorber, you're not being..."

Sharon grabbed the girl's head and pointed it at Elizabeth Bennet. "That one. She's got a nice look about her. Who is she?"

"Elizabeth Bennet. Her dad is Ralph, the old guy who's always around Bingley?"

"What does she do?"

"I don't know." Michelle willed her hands to stop trembling. She didn't like where this was going.

"How can you not know, Michelle? What did I tell you implicitly before I ever agreed to pay for you to fly here?"

"That you needed me to learn as much about everyone as possible without you having to go to the trouble of doing it yourself."

"Exactly. You're telling me you don't know what this girl does? You're telling me there are no bits of dirt on her? That you don't know why she's here? I am very disappointed, Michelle."

It wasn't her fault that Sharon Vorber was crazy. She was like the set's own personal J. Edgar Hoover, compiling lists of gossip, innuendo, and speculation on every person on set. For what reason Michelle didn't know. She supposed the money and fame had finally started to make her crack.

"I want you to go over there and ask her if she wants your job."

Michelle's chest caved as though she'd been punched. "Ms. Vorber, I ... are you joking?" Her face crumbled and welled tears broke over her eyes.

"I decided I was going to fire you yesterday, sweetheart. I already bought your ticket home. If you get that girl to take your job, I'll give you a month's severance pay. If not, the key to my office had better be in Phil's hands the second you get home, or I'll make it so you couldn't get a job scooping up dog**** in Vanilla Ice's backyard." She smiled, genuinely thinking it would soften the blow of her words. She'd liked Michelle well enough, but the girl was completely useless.

"Ms. Vorber!" She sobbed, "You can't do this!"

"Michelle, I already did. Suck it up and get moving. I'd clean up a little before I go over there, if I were you. You've got money on the line."

"She's really ... weird. She ... like ... collects information on everybody on set."

"What?"

"Like, random gossip and stuff. That's why she fired me. She didn't think I was doing a good enough job. But you try and keep tabs on the whole crew. It's ridiculous.

Michelle had obviously never met Frannie. "I sympathize with your situation, truly, I do. But I have a job, one I've been neglecting." She ignored the pang of guilt. So maybe her work could probably still be put off, as nothing was beyond preliminaries. Not a loser, that's me. But the woman in front of her didn't need to know that.

"Don't you work for your dad?" Michelle could have punched herself. Why didn't I think of that when I was talking to freaking Sharon?

She threw Michelle a dark look. "Yeah."

"No offense, or anything. It's just that since he's here, doing whatever, I thought that you wouldn't be ... quite so busy."

"Okay, well the truth is, I've had my fill of Hollywood jerks, and your Sharon sounds like a monster. I really don't want anything to do with her." Elizabeth liked the actress's films and would prefer to keep it that way without the interference of real life contact.

"She likes you. She used to like me, too. It takes awhile for it to wear off, plenty of time of the check to clear. That's all I'm asking for, just until the check clears."

"When would that be?"

"Could be a couple of days, could be a couple of weeks."

"Michelle, look, I'm really sorry, but the answer is no."

"Alright, let me lay it out for you. If you don't help me, I'm screwed out of my severance pay and I'm screwed professionally, because that b**** is going to run her big, fat, crazy, mouth about me to anyone who will listen." Michelle choked back a sob, "I've got a degree! From a good school! I was so stupid, all I ever wanted was to come to Hollywood and be in the film industry and where did I end up? Fired by Endeavor after six months because I put Diet Coke in the conference room instead of Diet Pepsi. Fired from Sony because I was the script reader that recommended Gigli for production. It wasn't the same script! I swear to you! It wasn't my fault!. Let's see ... then I was fired by Lizzie Grubman. I thought that was the worst it could get. Then I thought I'd just be someone's assistant for a year or two, give people some time to forget me, and try again." She buried her hands in her head and sniffled loudly, "And now ... now I'm being fired by Sharon Vorber from an assistant position." She began to cry openly, "I went to Yale. I went into debt for this. I can't believe this is happening to me." She tapered off, reduced to silent, wracking, tears occasioned by short gasps of breath. "Oh. My. God. What am I going to do?" She took a moment to collect herself. "I'll give you a third. Please."

Elizabeth couldn't help but be moved the girl's uncontrolled emotion. "Fine, but two weeks max. If it takes longer than that, I'll walk. Same goes if she's as bad as you say she is. I'm not making any promises."

"That's fair enough." Michelle brightened considerably. "I meant what I said earlier. It takes awhile for her to start hating you."

"Hopefully she's quick at cutting checks."

"Oh, she has a guy, Jim, that takes care of all that junk. This should all be resolved in no time."

"Alright. When should I meet her?"

"Probably right now." Michelle pointed her towards a gazebo in the right most corner of the patio. "Thank you so much, Elizabeth. I won't ever, ever, ever, ever, forget this."

"As long as you aren't stupid, we will get along perfectly." Sharon smiled, and was impressed that the woman before her did not seem at all intimidated.

"Yes. Michelle told me that my main function would be to report to you about people on the set. That's very peculiar. May I ask why?"

"That's not any of your business." Sharon stated flatly and changed the subject. "Pay is 3000 a month, and if I like you, I might decide to take you home with me, during which pay will be renegotiated."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I have no intention of leaving Longbourn. I have a job here, a life. I like it here."

Sharon raised an eyebrow, "Fine, whatever." Perhaps hiring her had been a mistake. She didn't like the willfulness she saw in the younger woman's eyes. "You can start tomorrow morning."

"Do you require anything before then?"

"Yes, I'm expected on set at nine, so I'll need a wake up call. We can take it from there."

"Do I drive you in, or does one of the transpo guys?"

"My bodyguard drives me in."

"You brought a bodyguard to Longbourn?" Elizabeth didn't mean to reveal her confusion, but her expression betrayed her. The idea of anything bad happening in Longbourn was unthinkable.

She saw the woman stiffen, before she had been slouching slightly and now she slowly brought herself back up to a perfectly rigid posture. "Yes. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Uh ... no ... I apologize, it's just that I've lived here my whole life, practically, and it's probably the safest..."

"Safe for you maybe. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm sort of ... I don't know ... famous? I'm guessing you don't have to worry about the goddamn paparazzi and the psychos and the fans. My guess is that you would bring a bodyguard here, too."

Elizabeth allowed her point. "I hadn't thought about that."

Sharon laughed. "I like that you don't think of me as famous. That's different. I'll let you in on a secret." She took a pause and smiled. Elizabeth was struck by how absolutely beautiful she was. Maybe even prettier than Jane. "The paparazzi were out here for, like, a week ... and got so bored they cut out. Even I can admit that I don't have the power to keep those wastes of flesh out here in Middle-of-Nowhere, Indiana for more than a few days. I have the bodyguard because I don't like people. He's big and strong and scary, so, you know, everyone keeps their distance."

"Ever think that you got into the wrong profession?" She could now only be left assume that all actors hated people. She was more grateful than ever that she discovered filmmaking wasn't for her.

"No, I'm pretty sure I got into the right profession. You should see how good I am at faking it."

This earned a smile from Elizabeth as Sharon knocked back a shot of tequila from a bottle kept underneath her chaise lounge.

"So what is it that you want to know? I have to admit, I don't know that much about anyone who isn't local."

"You think I'm strange, don't you?"

Elizabeth didn't see a point in lying. "Yes."

"Do you think it's fair that everyone on set knows every little thing about me, but I don't get to know the same about them?"

"Do you think it's fair that you make millions of dollars for doing three months worth of work?"

"No, but boo hoo. I'd still be here even if it paid like crap."

"Easy to say from the other end of the stick."

"Are you always this antagonistic?"

"No, I've guess I've just had my fill of actors and I don't care anymore."

"Yeah? Who?" There was a slight fluttering of hands and a gleam in her eye that was unmistakable to Elizabeth.

"All the rest of your castmates."

"Yeah, Lawrence is a drunk, Caroline's a b****, Louisa has rickets, or some crap like that."

"And Darcy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a stick up his ***."

Sharon snorted, "Going to have to agree with you on that one, although, I will give him credit for being one of the least crazy people I've worked with. He keeps to himself, doesn't booze around, no drugs. He's nice to his sister. I mean, he's totally stodgy and boring, and in love with himself, but I've seen worse."

"You'd know better than me, I guess, but he still sucks."

"Probably."

They passed some time and the better part of the tequila bottle.

"Elizabeth, don't take this personally, but you're fired." Sharon slurred with a giggle. "I like you and I don't want you to pretend to like me because I'm signing your paycheck."

"Thank God. I only did it to help out that girl. You are still going to pay her like you promised, right?"

"Yeah. I will."

They both looked at each other and laughed.

"I think there's someone you should meet. I think you two will get along perfectly."

"Can you still give me a wake up call?"

"Yeah. I'll bring her over to you tomorrow morning. She puts on a mean breakfast."

"Sounds good. You need a ride home?"

"Nah, I'll sleep it off on one of the cots downstairs."

"Don't forget."

"I won't."

"Oh, Ms. Vorber, I am one of your biggest fans!" Frannie squealed and shook the young woman's hand.

"Sharon, this is my mom, Frannie Bennet."

"I know who she is." Sharon said with a smile, "I remember seeing one of her movies on cable a long time ago. You were hot back in the day!"

Frannie had never felt happier in all her life. "Oh, thank you, Ms. Vorber."

"So tell me everything about everyone, Frannie."

Sharon Vorber was the laziest gossip Elizabeth had ever met. It wasn't even that she had a odd complex or compulsion. She just liked to gossip and didn't want to go to the trouble of figuring things out for herself. Elizabeth was fairly certain she'd just introduced her to her soul mate.

It didn't take long for Elizabeth to feel comfortable with leaving and she headed to her office, trying not to think about the idea of her mother on set with Darcy for the rest of the shoot.

With Darcy, Caroline, Louisa, and Lawrence. She amended, too tired and hung over to think about the implications of her initial worry.